Alex
by StormWolf10
Summary: Part of the HavenVerse. AU. In which Alex John Smith reveals his side of the events from Safe Haven through to Tokens


**A/N: Alex's view of events :) Generally considered to be 4****th**** in the HavenVerse**

He should have seen it coming, Alex decides bitterly. He should have seen it coming. The whole day had seen them dragged from pillar to post, his Dad acting all weird about a letter he'd gotten, and them getting pushed off round to Jack's by mid-afternoon. The adults had claimed it was a sleepover, a bit of fun while their Dad sorted some things out, but Alex knew it wasn't the case. Knew it hadn't been planned.

And then Jack had gotten a phone call, had bundled them back into their coats and shoes and dragged them round to the vicar's house of all places. Alex didn't have anything against the vicar, and he knew that both Livvy and Felix were friends with his two children, but he still didn't see why they couldn't have gone to Donna's. Or Martha's. Or Mickey's. Or better still, home. That's all he wanted; for someone to tell him what the hell was going on and take them home.

But it's not their home anymore.

Even the vicar had left them, leaving them with his wife Amy while he hurried off. It was only an hour or so later, when Jack and Mickey arrived at the door to collect them, that Alex finally got the full story. Rose had been attacked, by an ex-boyfriend of hers who'd come down from London. Their Dad had been attacked trying to save her. They were both in hospital.

And that brings him to the here and now. Jack, Rory and Mickey insist on talking to him separately, the younger ones presumably getting a somewhat watered down version of events. But Alex won't. Refuses to, in fact. He can't be kept in the dark any longer.

"I'm old enough to know what happened," he grinds out in annoyance.

He watches, rolling his eyes as the three men share a look. Then, Jack sighs and sits forward.

"Your Dad was strangled," he begins carefully, eyes on Alex's at all times. "He's got a bit of bruising, which will go down given time. A knife was held to his throat, too, and from what the paramedics said, it's gonna leave a scar."

"And… And Rose?" Alex manages, his throat constricting, the words sticking in his throat as tears sting at his eyes.

"She's having surgery," Mickey admits before Jack can respond. "Stone stabbed her in the stomach a few times, perforated her stomach. Cuts on her arms, too, and the paramedics reckon she's broken her right collarbone and bruised a few ribs."

"But she'll be alright?" Alex asks, frowning. It feels weird, trying to imagine Rose not being in their lives anymore.

The three men share a look and don't respond. Alex swallows.

"I want to see them," he states suddenly, quietly.

"You can't," Jack tells him calmly. "Your Dad's coming round to see you once he's been discharged, but none of you are going anywhere near that hospital for a few weeks at least."

"I want to see them," Alex repeats angrily, tears welling in his eyes.

Jack merely stares back sadly.

**~StormWolf10~**

They go back to Jack's, Alex barely managing to keep from crying until they are inside the house. He flees upstairs then, to the tiny room he has to share with the others. Door shut firmly behind him, he throws himself onto his bunk and lets the tears fall.

He doesn't know how long he cried. Didn't exactly time it. All Alex knows is that, by the time he's stopped crying, it's dark outside, and their Dad still isn't there.

Everything's a bit hazy, from after Jack, Mickey and Rory told him he couldn't go to the hospital to see his Dad and Rose. There was shouting involved, Alex recalls vaguely, and lots of crying. And he can't be certain, but he might have lashed out at a few people, the vicar included. He'd had a tantrum, Alex concludes as he lay on his bunk in the darkened room. He'd had a tantrum and missed his tea.

He is old enough to fix himself something to eat, but he really can't bring himself to go downstairs. Can't bring himself to switch on the light and really see that he isn't at home, that he isn't in his room. Can't bring himself to go downstairs and see his younger siblings on the sofa with someone who isn't their Dad. Can't bring himself to come to terms that maybe, just maybe, Jack and Mickey had lied, and that their Dad isn't being discharged, that he hadn't survived at all.

**~StormWolf10~**

When their Dad comes to see them at Jack's the next day, Alex isn't afraid to admit that, just the same as Felix and Livvy and Oscar, he runs down the stairs to throw himself at John. He isn't afraid to admit that he hugs his Dad just that little bit harder, that yes he is crying, and yes he has bloody missed him. He isn't afraid to admit that a tiny jolt of terror goes through him when their Dad tells them they have to stay at Jack's just a little longer, because they can't go back to the house and they have nowhere else to go (except Sylvia's, but none of them want to go to Sylvia's). He isn't afraid to admit that he's relieved when their Dad explains he'll be sleeping on Jack's sofa.

He is afraid to admit he's still terrified Rose won't make it.

**~StormWolf10~**

The first time they are allowed to the hospital to see Rose, John pulls him to one side.

"Now," John begins carefully, glancing at the kids who are hovering outside Rose's room expectantly, "you're old enough to understand, Alex. Rose has been really seriously hurt, and sometimes the pain gets a little too much. They give her pain relief for it, but I may need you to take the others out of the room for a little while, ok?"

Alex nods. It's his responsibility to make sure that, if Rose needs space, the others give her space. He'll drag them out of the room if need be, though he hopes it won't come to that.

His Dad's talked to him, to all of them separately, about Rose's injuries. About the fact her arms are bandaged and her ribs hurt and her collarbone's broken. About the fact her stomach's really tender and- privately, just to Alex- that the fading bruises on her hips and thighs means she sometimes finds it painful to move. He's been made aware of the IV tubes and the persistent little heart monitor that beeps whenever it wants to rather than when it's supposed to. He's been told that will be gone soon, though.

Still, that doesn't prepare him for the sight that meets him as he enters the room. Rose's bed's been raised a bit, so she's half-sitting at the very least. She looks tired, but manages a weak smile and a chuckle as Felix has to be dragged back by John. Alex quietly thinks she doesn't look quite up to visitors, or at least not up to having Felix and Livvy clambering all over the place. He keeps quiet, though, managing a small smile as he enters the room.

**~StormWolf10~**

When the gift bags start, Alex starts paying a visit to the corner shop on the way home from school. He gets Rose's favourite sweets, scraping together what little change he has. He trades things at school for packets of starbursts, and skittles, and anything else he knows Rose likes. So far, it's cost him £5 and a hoodie.

His Dad doesn't notice that his hoodie goes missing, they're all crammed into a tiny two-bed flat, and Alex can just as easily claim it went missing when they moved their stuff from the old house. Besides, Alex decides, he can buy another hoodie. Something tells him they can't get another Rose.

**~StormWolf10~ **

When Rose is finally discharged, Alex isn't afraid to admit that he's glad she's alright, and he isn't afraid to admit that he's glad she's coming home with them. He isn't afraid to admit that he's quite certain she and his Dad are together, or at least heading in that direction, and that actually, he quite likes that idea.

And having Rose as a step-Mum isn't such a bad idea.

**~StormWolf10~**

Alex stares, somewhat sceptically, up at the new house. It's a bus ride from Gallifrey, though he and Oscar are still at the same school. It's meant to be a fresh start. For them, and for their Dad, and for Rose.

"Shall we get inside, then?" John asks suddenly, appearing beside Alex with Felix clinging to his leg.

"Suppose so," Alex responds, managing a weak smile.

"I know it's not Gallifrey, Alex," John admits quietly with a sigh, smile falling, "but you're old enough to know why we had to. Why we had to make the move."

Alex nods, a little reluctantly.

"And besides," John adds on a cheerier note. "Nearer the woods here, and you're still only a bus trip away from your friends."

Alex opens his mouth to speak, to interject and to protest that it still means his friends will leave him out. But then he sees Rose, laughing and playing with Livvy, and he stops himself. He can make new friends, he wouldn't have stayed in Gallifrey forever, anyway. The move is about all of them; him and his Dad and Oscar and Livvy and Felix and Rose. It's their fresh start.

Alex smiles, and follows his Dad inside.


End file.
